Martial Arts Montage of Love
by Valancy Stirling
Summary: If Akane doesn't want Ranma guarding her all the time, she's going to have to prove she's willing to do what it takes to become a formidable martial artist.
1. Chapter 1

Akane kicked off her shoes and trotted into her living room where she heaved her unusually heavy book bag down onto the floor. Strong as an ox my butt! She thought, rubbing her shoulder and twisting, trying to pop her spine back into alignment. There! She felt a light, pleasant zipping sensation as her vertebrae settled into place.

Kasumi looked up from her seat on the floor "Hello, Akane, how was school today?"

"Fine, Kasumi" to be honest, Akane hadn't really been able to focus much at school. She was a good enough student that she could get by without effort occasionally. That proved convenient on days like this. Oh well, only one more day before the weekend. And she'd lugged every single book in Ranma's locker home, so he'd have them all no matter what got assigned.

Akane sat beside her sister and looked over her battered fiance. "Has he woken up at all?"

"Yes, he was awake for an hour or two this afternoon. Dr. Tofu was here, then. He'll be fine. As usual."

"How long?"

"Three weeks bed rest. Six more to fully regain his strength."

That was on the longer side of middling for serious Ranma level damage. It worried her that this might be what life with Ranma was like forever. Could she ever get used to this?

Kasumi lifted the bin in her hands "I was just about to change his bandages. Then I'll go get started on dinner. It's getting late. I suppose a half hour won't starve anyone to death, though."

"I'll do this, Kasumi." Akane said.

"Oh my, thank you Akane. Are you sure you don't need to catch up on your school work? You missed two whole days this week."

"Yeah, I got a lot done in study hall today."

"Alright, then. I'll just go start supper, then." Kasumi smiled a thank you to her sister and disappeared into the kitchen.

Akane ran to the bathroom and washed her hands. When she returned, she glanced through the medical supplies, and then gently folded blankets down off of the unconscious Ranma. She started to peel back the dressing on the worst of the wounds, a deep slash across his lower torso that had cut well into the muscle.

Akane rubbed her stomach thoughtfully. That slash had been meant for her. Ranma had dropped down off the cave ceiling in front of it, kicking out at her attacker. He'd taken a good bit of the power out of his opponents cut. And it was still a near thing that it wasn't a messy, likely lethal gut wound. It certainly would have been if it had connected uninterrupted with its real target.

The tape on the old bandage caught on his skin, and Ranma muttered unintelligibly as she eased it off. "Shh. It's okay."

She held the tube of antibiotic cream between her thighs for a few moments before squeezing some out onto her clean finger tips. As gently as she could, she spread it across Dr. Tofu's neat stitches cursing herself as her fingers ran across the v-cut of Ranma's abs.

Deep in the catacombs, certain that this time she would die, that he couldn't find her in time to save her, she had let her mind wander. Dreamed just a little too intensely about touching this particular part of him. For just a moment. And yet here she was. Was it a wish? Was this her fault, somehow? 'I'm sorry, Ranma' she thought.

Ranma watched through lowered lids as Akane took care of him. A big part of him hated being this helpless, but an equally big, and more desperate, starved part of him rejoiced. The misery of being injured to the point of immobility was almost worth it. Her touch was efficient and professional, probably nothing very special to most people. Still, it was so rare that anyone touched him with anything but violent or possessive intent.

Akane's gentle hands continued to move over his cuts and scrapes, uncovering each one, applying ointment, and rebandaging deftly. She was intent on her work, and appeared to realize he was awake only when she lifted her head and met his eyes. He saw anxiety there. He should goad her, get her to smack him good and forget whatever was bothering her. "I almost lost you back there" that wasn't an insult. His stupid mouth. Why couldn't he ever talk right. "Not that I should mind losing an uncute, no-chest tomboy - ow!"  
He was jerked mercilessly upright as Akane whisked the compression bandages off of his cracked ribs to clean a few more cuts before replacing them. Her movements were no longer gentle, each prod was positioned to cause maximum discomfort without actually making his injuries worse. Flickers of hot battle ki flaring up from her skin. Better.

Akane stood up to huff off, and then stopped. "I'll just leave your school books next to you with a list of the homework from this week." She smiled too sweetly. "Miss Hanaka would like me to bring your completed work back tomorrow." She grabbed text books from her back, as well as a sheet of paper with a distressingly long list of exercises on it.

Ranma tried to sit up to read. It didn't work, and it hurt a lot. Dammit, this was the first time he'd had cuts nearly clean through his abdominal muscles, in at least three places, too. God, he was helpless as an infant.

"Kasumi!" he called.

"Just a minute, Ranma" she called back. Then he heard "Akane, I have three things on the stove and I can't walk away right now. Please go help Ranma."

Akane marched in and stopped in front of Ranma, hands on her hips "What?"

Ranma squirmed. The last person he wanted to feel weak around was Akane. "Nevermind" he grumbled, grimacing has he used his arms to hoist his torso up.

Immediately, Akane softened. "Idiot!" She chided easily lifting him and laying pillows behind his back to prop them up.

Ranma felt himself relax as Akane settled down next to him on the floor and pulled out his school work. "I missed everything except today, too. Want to work on it together?"

Akane closed her school books and ran to help Kasumi set the table. She, with scant help from Ranma, had finished about a third of their backlogged school work. Not bad. She took made up a plate for herself and a heaping one for Ranma and moved over to where he was sitting. His appetite was healthy as ever, at least. She watched him doze after a second helping.

It was nice to see him relaxed. He hadn't been sleeping much since Jusendo. Akane knew. Neither had she. More than once she had heard his light footfalls as he paced above her window after the house had gone to bed.

Come to think of it, she was a bit tired herself. "Good night, everyone" Akane said and headed up the stairs towards her room.

"Akane!" Ranma's voice reached her, laced with tension. "I'm coming with you."

"That's the spirit boy!"

"Are you sure you're up to that tonight Ranma?"

"Shut up, that's not what I meant." Ranma muttered. "Akane, wait up." She turned and felt her mouth fall open as Ranma walked across the room towards her, a grimace of obvious pain on his face.

"What exactly do you think you're doing, pervert?" She asked. Was he seriously trying to use his pathetic, injured state to weasel his way into her bedroom for the night?

"Akane," he said, "You got kidnapped right out your window in the middle of the night and I wasn't there. It is not happening again."

She hustled up the stairs, and he followed, "I can take care of myself, Ranma."

"Oh yeah, big strong tomboy who managed to get captured and locked in a cave like a freaking damsel in distress." Wow. He really just insulted her for being a tomboy and for being girly in the same sentence. Unbelievable.

"I'm in a hell of a lot better shape than you at the moment."

"Oh, Akane, let him sleep in your room, it's not like he's in a state to try anything." Nabiki drawled from downstairs.

"Yes, really, Akane," her father said "Ranma is just trying to do his duty as your fiance."

"Fine, whatever." Akane opened her door for Ranma and grabbed his bedding from downstairs. She arranged it without speaking to him and helped him to lie down. After they had both laid in the silence pretending to sleep for a while, she whispered "Ranma, you don't have to take care of me. I'm a martial artist, too."

"Well, after Jusendo and now this, you're going to have become a hell of a lot better one if you want to convince me you don't need a bodyguard." He was looking straight up at the ceiling, not at her.

"I'm not that bad, Ranma"

"Compared to the trouble that tends to find us, you aren't that good, either."

Part of her wanted to fight, but Ranma wasn't taunting her at the moment. It was his honest assessment as a master martial artist of their school, and she knew he was right.

"Maybe you should pull out the Do Gi" he said after a while. "As annoying as that thing is."

"Umm . . . " Akane felt her cheeks heat "I can't wear that anymore."

"What, someone steal your heart or somethin'?" He laughed. Akane remembered darkness and Ranma's voice from very far away. 'I love you' he had said.

"Drop it, Ranma." She chucked her pillow at his head. His hand shot up, and he tossed it back to her.

"Who?" Was the boy really that dense?

"You know, Ranma, the Do Gi was supposed to unlock my potential, anyway. That means I can be just as good without it."

"Oh yeah, in some universe where you actually train." Ranma said.

"I train!"

"Yeah, right. When's the last time you spent even 48 hours doing nothing but working on getting better in the Art."

Akane thought back. She hadn't worked that hard in years. Her silence hung in the air.

"Exactly. Listen, you aren't a serious fighter because you don't train like one."

She sighed "Who would I get to teach me, Ranma. I've learned everything my Dad is willing to teach me.I'm not going to try it with your crazy father or with the old letch."

"Akane, do you actually want to do this anyway? It's okay if your life isn't all about the Art. Just don't tell meI don't need ta guard ya."

Akane remembered when her life was all about the Art. She missed the absolute confidence of being able to kick the ass of any trouble that came her way. "It used to be. I'm not really good at anything else."

"Like I said, you're not that good a martial artist either." Ranma easily deflected a book that whizzed towards his head. "What? I didn't say you can't be, I said you aren't. You put all you stubbornness and will into trying to do stupid girly crap like cooking when you'll never be good at that anyway. If you put half as much energy into getting faster and learning some techniques, you could kick Shampoo's ass in no time."

"And where am I supposed to go to learn these things Ranma?" It was almost a stupid question. Nerima had a very high concentration of martial arts masters. Too bad none of them would every give her the time of day when it came to training.

After a long pause, Ranma quietly said, "I'll teach you, if you want."

Ranma's words hung in the air. He waited. Part of him wanted her to say no. Then he wouldn't have to put her through the hell it would take to make her really good. On the other hand, there were a few slashes across his torso that would have damned near torn her in half if he hadn't manage to track her down just in time.

"Okay." Her voice was quiet, but steady. "After you're better." She added. After some time, he heard her light snores, and then he, too drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Ramna and friends don't belong to me. I'm just taking them out to play in the woods for a while.

Ranma sprang up from his bed the moment Dr. Tofu proclaimed him fit to train again. The last week had been beyond boring. He felt fine, but the doctor wouldn't give him the okay to do anything. Ranma ended up laying, doing nothing at all, under his mother's quiet watch lest he try to get up before he had permission. Finally, he could get back into shape. A brief training trip was definitely in order. "Ranma, where are you going?" Nodoka asked as he ran around the room he shared with his father and loaded his pack.

"Training. I've gotta get back in shape, Mom."

"So dedicated!" Nodoka clasped her hands to her chest, a far-away expression on her face. "Take Akane with you. She can keep your campsite and cook for you."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Ranma turned his face into an expression of horrified disgust.

"I'm not that bad, Ranma!" Akane had just entered the room and stood, arms across her chest, one hip jutting to the side. "And you said I could come with you."

"Not to cook!"

"Just what's wrong with my cooking anyway, Ranma?" Akane protested. "I thought you said I'm getting better."

"Well ya couldn't get worse." Ranma laughed.

"Oh, my." Nodoka interrupted, beaming. "I'm not sure how Mr. Tendo will feel about you taking his daughter away on a trip without you marrying her first."

It would be really, really nice to get away from this business for a while. "I'm not marryin' Akane just so I can take her on a training trip, mom. That's dumb."

"Surely," said his mother, "If you're all alone with a young lady on a camping trip, things are bound to happen, Ranma. I'd expect no less of you. Akane's family has been very good to you. It would not do to dishonor her in that way."

Ranma felt his face getting hot. Lucky he was embarrassed and irritated enough by this turn of the conversation that his mouth didn't quite work. Before he could blurt out anything awful Akane stood straight up and said, "Auntie, I don't want to cast a shadow of a doubt on Ranma's manliness, but nothing is going to happen. It's just a training trip. I'm going to go pack." She spun and slammed the guest room door behind her, and the whole house shook for a moment.

Nodoka opened it again after a moment and headed down the stairs, presumably to help with dinner. Ranma listened to Akane slamming drawers in her room as he continued to fill his pack. He never did quite understand her desire to be good at domestic stuff. She didn't really like it, and she definitely wasn't cut out for it. Why the hell did she get so damned fussy about it?

That evening, Ranma sat down by where his dad and Mr. Tendo were playing shogi. "Excuse me, Pops, Mr. Tendo." Ranma bowed slightly. Both men looked at him, wary of the uncharacteristic politeness. "I'd like to take Akane on a training trip."

"Oh, Saotome!" Soun cried, "They're finally going to get together. I knew we'd see this day."

Ranma waited a moment while Mr. Tendo hugged his father. "This ain't about that. I want to train her. I think I'm ready to start teaching, and she could sure use the practice."

"What do you think, Tendo?" his pop asked waggling his eyebrows idiotically at Mr. Tendo "Do you think Ranma's ready to start teaching?"

"Akane's already within the school, we won't have to bother the master about this. And Ranma's already much better than I was when I started taking students."

"Alright then Ranma, my boy. Go ahead and teach Akane."

"Just don't you let my daughter get hurt Ranma!" Sound said, his ki head looming.

"No, sir" Ranma answer quickly.

As he trudged across the wood floor of the dojo, looking at his long shadow, he heard the two men quietly talking about their expectations that the trip would start out as training and blossom into a romantic trip in the wilderness. Seriously, would those guys ever quit? He wondered what the two of them would do once him and Akane actually did get married. Probably start after Akane to pop out half a dozen fat little babies with high martial arts potential. He shuddered to think of her reaction to that, though part of him thought that their kids would have to be pretty freakin' cute. He shuddered again at the thought of a pregnant, hormonal Akane. Chances were high that she would kill him. At least he could dodge in his sleep. 'Not that I need to worry about that any time soon.' He reminded himself.

Arriving in the dojo, Ranma headed into the dojo and ran through a series of exercises to assess just how weak he'd gotten from the injury and the three weeks off.

At breakfast, Akane sat beside Ranma and tried to ignore their fathers' exclamations over her studying with Ranma alone In the wilderness when Nodoka broke in "Genma darling, that wouldn't be proper at all. Akane is a charming young lady, and we must protect her reputation."

"As if I'd ever try anything on an uncute tomboy like her, Ma. Akane don't got nothing ta worry about." Ranma broke in.

"Like you'd have the guts!" Akane yelled, smacking him.

After the resultant argument had settled down, Akane smugly ignored her now-female fiance's challenging glare.

Kasumi turned to Nodoka sunnily and said, "Auntie, would you chaperone them? I think having some supervision might be wise."

"Isn't she the one who said an engaged couple can do anything they want?" Nabiki

"Certainly dear, " Nodoka smiled. Her pride in her son was practically oozing out her pores as she turned to face Akane. "I'll make sure that Ranma takes responsibility for any unplanned occurances."

"Genma!" Soun grabbed the panda and began to dance. "We're going to have grandchildren."

"Oh brother," Ranma said, his face bright red, "I'm taking her with me because I'm interested in her fighting skills and that's all."

Akane glared daggers at him. Akane wasn't sure what made her more mad. The assumption that she was Ranma's for the taking just like the rest his annoying little harem or his unhesitant disavowal of any interest.

"Mom, I'd love to have you along," Ranma said, "but I'm going to be pushing Akane pretty hard. I don't want to force you to keep up with us." Ranma was saying.

"Nonsense, darling. I'm fit as a fiddle." Nodoka smiled. "I'll pack right away and we can leave in half an hour. Genma, dear, would you please let Ranma and Akane's school know they'll be out for a few weeks?"

Genma held up a sign that said "Yep."  
A little while later, the three of them were heading out the door, and after several hours of walking, they left the city behind completely and found themselves hiking up a heavily wooded hillside, Ranma took the lead with Akane close behind. Nodoka kept pace, but stayed a bit farther back. Akane didn't doubt that she was still within earshot.

"Yo, Akane!" Ranma flipped in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. "You still never gonna forgive me if I hit you?"

Akane shook her head, bemused. How could he train her without hitting her at least a little?

"I'm gonna try an' be a nicer teacher than my old man, but I gotta push you if you wanna get better. So – whatever I do, it's not because of anything other than I'm trying to make you into a better martial artist. Try not to take it personal, okay?"

Akane nodded, meeting Ranma's gaze, surprised by his seriousness.

Satisfied, he turned around and kept walking. They didn't talk much other than some polite conversation with Nodoka when they stopped for lunch. The sun was just starting to get low on the horizon when Ranma dodged off to the trail and hopped over a high stone ridge. Akane followed him, not quite as gracefully, and sank down, astounded by one of the most beautiful places she had ever seen.

Trees, older and taller than any she'd even dreamed of stretched up toward the sky, their branches thick as the trunks of normal trees, spreading across the whole sky, vines, some flowering in every shade imaginable canopied across the branches. Exotic-looking bushes covered much of the lower ground. Akane took a deep breath and held it in. The whole place smelled like moist, rich soil and plants growing. The air felt alive. "Wow," she said, "this is really pretty."

"It's my favorite place to train." As he leaned down over the ridge to help his mother across, Ranma flashed her his cockiest smile, the one sparked something in her that made her proud and shaky and too hot and that simultaneously made her want to slap him for being so damned full of himself.

They set up camp without incident until Nodoka talked Akane into making dinner. She had been prepared for that, though. At least she could pull off curry now. Ranma took a tentative bite, shrugged, and kept eating. Disaster avoided. She wondered how many nights in a row it would be reasonable to make curry. There were a few other dishes she'd been working hard on, but they barely made it into the range of 'almost tolerable, if one is extremely hungry.'

At dawn Ramna woke up and stretched. He was generally glad to have a roof over his head, but when the weather was nice, nothing beat the great outdoors. This was one of the places his pop had taken him for training when he was quite young, probably seven or eight. He'd always thought there was something magical about it. He bounded up through the tree branches, as near to the top of a particularly tall tree as he could get, startling a family of birds who dove and pecked at him until he got well clear of their nest. As the sun lit above the horizon, he sprinted through the canopy, flipping from one tree limb to another. This would be just right for Akane. Her actual moves were pretty good, really, and her strength was as he'd often mentioned, gorilla like. The biggest weakness he could see was that she acted in most cases like the ground was the only surface to move across. She didn't perceive the whole three dimensional space around her and all the objects in it as potential "ground" to move against.

He was just starting to feel really good about this whole thing when Akane's shriek of terror cut through the early morning air. Ranma dove out of the tree where he had been perched flipping around branches here or there just enough to get closer to their camp site and slow himself down enough that he could roll out of the controlled fall into a dead run. When he arrived back at camp, he didn't notice much out of place. A couple of pots sat on a burning cooking stove. Nodoka was holding the door flap of the tent she and Akane had shared between two fingers, and stood back at arms length, looking in wide eyed. Akane's scream had become more of a distressed squeeking.

Steeling himself for whatever enemy he might find, Ranma darted into the tent, looking for the threat. At first he only saw Akane, huddled in the corner, alone and seemingly unharmed. Then, he looked where she was pointing and saw a very large spider hanging out on her pillow.

"Ramna!" She pleaded "That spider was on my face. Get it out of here."

Ranma didn't really want to touch the thing himself, so he grabbed one of Akane's notebooks, scooped up the spider and ran to set it free a little ways off from camp. When he returned, Akane had stepped outside, and Nodoka was tending breakfast.

"Is it gone?" Akane asked.

"Yeah." He couldn't help smiling. Akane freaking out over a spider was surprisingly girly and kind of cute. Much better than all the possible situations that had been running through his mind.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He cocked a smile at her. "Ranma Saotome, martial arts genius, destroyer of demi-gods, remover of spiders at your service" He gave a little half bow and saw that she was laughing a little. "Come on," he said, "Looks like Mom's got breakfast just about ready."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma and his friends. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Akane changed out of her pajamas and into her gi. Her heart beat a little faster just before she stepped out of her tent. She felt stupid for being nervous. It was just Ranma. When she stepped out, she saw him gazing into the trees, nonchalantly tipping a canteen of water gently over his head until he changed. She should have expected that. She knew it was part of his personal code of honor, but really, to her Ranma was Ranma. It wasn't exactly that she didn't notice the curse anymore, but she was used to it.

"You don't have to do that, you know." Akane said.

"Yeah, I do." Ranma answer, tightening the waistband of his pants and pushing damp red bangs out of his eyes. "I need to stay in practice with my girl side, too, anyway."

"Suit yourself."

Ranma looked down and shuffled around a bit before he looked at her and said "Are you ready to get started?"

Akane nodded. "Yes. What do you want me to do?"

"Catch me if you can!" Ranma called, jumping up and vaulting off the tree trunk next to them and landing on the outstretched lower limb of another tree. He stood there grinning, one hand resting on a perfectly curved hip.

Akane took a deep breath and followed. She found it wasn't too hard of a jump after all. As soon as she came close Ranma continued upward. As Akane followed, they moved faster and faster, until it was all she could do to keep track of a blur of red between branches. The less she thought about what she was doing, somehow, the easier it got. This felt almost like flying. As she reached the tree tops, she saw Ranma head downwards, controlling his momentum by lighting on and flipping around convenient branches. On the way up, she had nearly caught up with him a few times. Down should have been easier, but it wasn't. To go down, you had to look down, and looking down from this height was not comfortable. She fell way behind, feeling compelled to slow down until she could process what was happening.

Akane hopped down from a low branch to see Ranma sitting, cross legged on the ground chin in his hands. He looked up at her and gave a positively angelic yawn, perfect feminine features set in dejected boredom. "Hey, you finally made it, slow poke."

"You didn't have to leave me so far behind, you know" Akane looked at him, her hands on her hips.

"Gotta keep up, Akane. Let's do it again. This time I'm going to throw attacks at you on the way up."

And up they went, sparring the whole way. Ranma's fist came flying at her head. She blocked too slow, and at the last second, he pulled his punch completely, flicked her forehead and stuck his tounge out at her as he grabbed a branch above his head and swung himself upward again. 'Oh, it's on!' Akane thought. Springing up a good thirty feet kicking off a heavy limb and launching herself downwards in a flying kick. She thought she was going to land it, but Ranma flipped and grasped her leg between both of his, threw her and kept climbing. Akane recovered quickly and followed.

"Too slow, tomboy. You told me those thick thighs of yours are all muscle, you'd better use 'em and make me believe it."

"Ranma!" Akane felt her rage buoy her, as she flipped through the treetops after her fiance. "You are so dead."

"Am not 'cause you're soooo sloooow." Ramna taunted and began the same kind of maniacal descent he had earlier.

'Oh, I am going to hit you so hard!' Akane thought as she dove after Ranma, dodging the small branches flying toward her face using the ones large enough to grab or jump off to change her speed and direction. There was Ranma, just ahead, bouncing off the trunk of a tree almost as big around as her father's koi pond. Akane drove at him hard and managed to land a good wallop on his too cute little red head. Her fiance landed hard, sprawled flat on his back on the ground. Which, now that she thought about it, was rushing up at her face pretty damned fast. She flung her body into a roll just as she hit the ground and tumbled out of it more or less unscathed.

Ranma tensed as he watched Akane panic, ready to hop up at top speed and catch her. No, she was controlling her landing just fine.

"Gotcha" she said, still a little breathless.

Rubbing at the lump on the back of his head, he wondered idly if he'd really thought this training thing through. Well, if he was going to suffer, so was she. "Lucky shot, Akane, but the warm up's over. Let's go."

He took off at full speed in as near to a vertical course as he could muster, listening to Akane scrambling behind him. As soon as he reached the top, he made a quick descent then grabbed a few seconds rest as he waited to make sure Akane got down alright. As soon as she reached the ground, he took off again. And then he did it again. The third time up, Akane was definitely getting slower, but she showed no signs of quitting. By the sixth run through, Ranma felt like his legs were on gloriously on fire from all the jumping, and she had slowed to a mere clamber behind him.

"Akane, you okay?" He called, "Do you want me to come carry you down?"

"Don't you dare, Ranma!" She yelled "I can do it just fine by myself."

Ranma watched from the ground until she was out of sight, then bounded up to meet her. Akane got hold of a branch overhead to continue to heave herself upwards. Ranma stayed close, ready to grab her if she fell. He could see her arms shaking as she pulled herself up. The first time, she didn't quite get high enough. Just as she tried again to get herself up and over, they were bombarded by diving streaks of white. Apparently, the birds that Ranma had pissed off earlier had brought their friends this time. Swell.

"Ranma!" Akane shrieked losing both her grip and her balance as she flailed, trying to get the damned birds away.

Ranma caught her just before she fell, took her down to the ground and handed her a canteen. The stupid birds were hovering, daring them to try their territory one more time, and then Ranma realized the retribution they had planned. He pushed Akane out of the their target area in time, but he didn't quite get clear quick enough and ended up with an impressive quanity of bird crap all over the back of his shirt and his head.

"Ranma!" Akane said, looking at him with both thanks and pity, "Thank you for saving me."

"No problem." He said. "Come on, this is gross. I wanna get cleaned up."

Akane walked by Ranma's side as he led on through the forest, presumably towards a stream or something. As he walked, he rubbed at his breasts in an entirely unlady-like manner.

"You are such a pervert!" Akane chided. "Can't you at least wait until you're alone to do that?"

"Hey! I ain't a pervert. I forgot how much all that jumping around in girl form hurts after a while. Ow!" He kept massaging his chest. If Nabiki were here, Akane was sure she'd make a fortune off the pictures.

"Ranma, bras exist for a reason other than looks."

"Huh." Ranma said, as if he'd never really thought about the concept before. Then he turned to her, challenge written all over his face, and said "I'm surprised you even know, Akane. It's not like you have much of any to worry about in that department."

Akane took a several swings at Ranma, but he dodged them all and took off. Akane, still winded and sore from climbing trees all morning, darted after him with no expectation that she'd get anywhere close. A few minutes later, Ranma disappeared ahead of her. When she came to the spot where he'd been, she looked down and saw him picking his way down a rocky hill, so steep it was almost a cliff. She followed, her arms and legs so exhausted that her muscles burned and shook, her hands and feet cramping up as she gripped onto the rocks. She kept going, slipping a little until her foot touched surprisingly warm water. A hot spring? She let go and dropped into the water, which came all the way up to her chest.

Ranma, returned to his male form by the spring water, had stripped down to his boxers and undone his braid. He scrubbed to make sure he got all the bird poo out of his hair. Akane lay back in the water. It felt strange to be in with clothes on, but she didn't have the energy to worry about it. She leaned against the rocks and let the water ease her numb muscles as she watched her fiance.

Akane could hardly remember the last time she'd seen Ranma in male form with his hair down. Even with the dragon whisker no longer an issue, he almost never took it out. Every movement was fluid and gracefull, perfectly controlled even when doing something as mundane as washing his hair.

It was funny, she new him so well, that whenever she looked at him, she never quite registered his appearance, exactly. Except for that very first time, when she ran in on him in the bath, she hardly ever noticed what he looked like, exactly. He was just Ranma. Maybe that was because she didn't think of him differently regardless of which form he was in at any given time.

He dropped under the water and came up closer, only a foot or so from her, braiding his hair back into its signature pigtail and fixing his bangs a little. For an insane moment, she thought about pulling him to her and kissing him. Akane shook her head, trying to recall why that was a terrible idea, glad that the day's exertions and the hot water could easily disguise the way her body was responding.

Ranma felt better now that he'd had a chance to get cleaned up and back to being a guy again. Akane had hardly moved since she'd settled against the side of the spring. "Hey, Akane." He asked, "You alright?"

She met his eyes and nodded. Her pupils were dilated, her mouth slightly open, and her skin flushed from the hot water. It looked like her breathing was still just a little bit ragged from the run. Immediately, Ranma took a big step back and a deep, steadying breath as he waited for his body to route some blood back to his brain.

After a moment, he had regained his composure. He glanced at Akane and thanked every god he could think of that she didn't know the effect she'd had on him. She'd definitely clobber him if she had any idea. He'd be down on bed rest for another month at least.

Ranma was saved thinking of something to say when his stomach growled loudly. "Man I'm hungry. Let's go back to camp."

Akane's stomach growled in response, and she nodded, giggling.

The next day, Akane felt so sore she hardly believed she could still move. She was the first one out of bed in the morning because she needed stretch out her sore muscles. Staying still hurt. Moving hurt. Part of her wondered why she'd signed up for weeks of this. Mostly, though, the pain was proof that she was capable of doing more than she was used to. Akane wanted it to subside so she could do it all again. Maybe a soak in that hot spring would help. She carefully picked her way through the undergrowth in the pre-dawn light flinching at the soreness in her legs.

Akane stripped to her underwear and settled into the spring. She watched steam rise off the water into the morning mist, thankful for the time to herself. She so rarely got to be alone any more. Except when he was injured and had to stay home, Ranma was rarely out of earshot anymore. Akane wasn't as bothered by that as she might once have been. Since Jusendo he had been increasingly quiet and protective. It had all worked out alright. He didn't even kill Saffron, not really, anyway. He sure meant to though. Maybe that's why he was all quiet and serious all the time.

Akane hadn't thought much about Jusendo since it had happened, she realized. Maybe she hadn't wanted to. The scariest moment in her life had been when Ranma was about to be sucked into Saffron's egg. She'd saved him though.

Akane remembered the searing heat ripping through her, leaving her swaddled in her clothing and unable to move or speak. She felt numb, but fine. Ranma was there, he had her. She'd bought him the chance to get free of Saffron's egg, but he wasn't doing anything. That idiot! Why didn't he run? Ryoga got them out of there, thank god.

It wasn't until a little later that she realized they all thought she was dead. Ranma didn't say a single word. He held her, wrapped in her now huge clothes, until she felt herself moving. "Give them back!" He screamed. Was he crying?

'Ranma!' She thought, 'it's okay. I'm okay.' He couldn't hear her, of course, but the guide was telling him. And then he was holding her again looking straight at her, his eyes full of hope. She sat, able only to listen as the guide explained that she could get back to normal by soaking in the cold Jusenkyo water from the dragon tap. With no hesitation, Ranma tucked her into the front of his shirt and headed back towards the taproom, the others trailing behind.

"Just hold on a little bit longer, Akane." Ranma said "We'll have you back to normal and pounding me on the head in no time." She watched and listened as Ranma and their friends tried to get the cold tap to run until Ranma got knocked out and she was picked up and shoved roughly in a pocket.

She couldn't hear or see what was happening for a while, and when she was brought out again, Ranma was gone. Shampoo was holding her. "Akane," she said "Shampoo no know if you can hear me, but you going to help me make Ranma husband finally. Shampoo not stupid. Ranma love bitchy kitchen destroyer. I have Jusenkyo water that make you all better, but only use it to help you if Ranma agree to belong to Shampoo forever."

Akane's heart sank. She hoped he wouldn't do it. A crash sounded from somewhere nearby and Shampoo picked her up, running. There was Ranma! "So sad" Shampoo said, "poor Akane end life like this. Though she save Ranma life so Shampoo no feel too bad."

'Bitch! You wanted to get rid of me since the day you realized I was in your way!' Akane tried to shout. Nothing came out, though. Shampoo showed Ranma the Jusenkyo water and requested that he be her slave. 'No, Ranma!' Akane thought frantically 'we don't even know if that's real Jusenkyo water!' It probably was though. Shampoo would want her alive and well so that she could really rub it in.

Ranma agreed, and Akane's heart sank. 'Don't do it, Ranma.'

Wait! He was attacking. Maybe he could get them both out of this. Ranma launched eggs at Shampoo and clearly thought one hit her. 'Ranma!' Akane thought, 'look out!' Shampoo barreled down on him, destroying the jar of water and turning Ranma female.

"Shampoo trying to help" she said "as Shampoo slave, I could save you life. Now I must follow Mistress Kima's orders again" Shampoo sighed heavily and grabbed Ranma, pouring a kettle of hot water over him and throwing him onto the bed. "We replay Ranma and Juliet episode! Shampoo be good Juliet, neh? We make sweet sweet memory before die together."

"Um . . . " Ranma said, a tremor in his voice "about that die together thing . . . "

Ooh! If Akane could have smacked him, she would have. Sweet memories, minus death, were just fine, were they? Shampoo was squeezing her hard, forcing Ranma to play along. And then, of all things, he asked Shampoo to get naked. To think, she'd almost wondered if maybe these things weren't always his fault.

In her remarkably slutty hurry to comply, Shampoo thrust Akane aside. Ranma picked her up and gently tucked her back into his shirt. And there was Shampoo's extravagant bosom, and two more eggs nestled in between her breasts. Ranma had known they were there! That's why he'd wanted her to undress. He almost got a hold of one the eggs when Mousse came in to 'rescue' Shampoo from Ranma's advances and all hell broke loose again until Shampoo was freed from her slavery and they all fell down into the tap room yet again.

Ranma and Saffron were arguing, then fighting. Ranma was still holding her, but she couldn't quite keep track of all the movement and the shouting. She felt so tired. All she could focus on was how delicious it would feel to close her and rest for a little while.

Ranma's voice broke through her exhaustion for a moment. "Hang on just a bit longer, Akane!" He said. "I'll put this guy on ice in no ti-"

Akane wondered what made him stop. She believed in him. She was holding on, she just needed to rest for a minute. She heard the guide again, she thought he was saying if she went to sleep now, she'd never wake up. Ranma was calling her again, frantic begging her not to give up. 'Okay, I can do this. Gotta stay strong' she thought.

Ranma was doing everything he could to get her the water she needed to heal, but it wasn't working. Akane stopped trying to keep track of what was going on and focused on trying not to give in to the dragging weariness. She listened to Ranma's voice. For all his bravado, she didn't think the fight was going well.

The next thing Akane knew, she was falling and Ranma was close behind her, calling out. Then a wave of heat washed over her, leaving her wondering if she could possibly resist the urge to sleep any longer. If she had heard right, though, she'd just saved Ranma again. Saffron couldn't hurt her anymore, and she could protect Ranma!

The fight raged on, and Akane grew increasingly worried that Ranma wouldn't make it. Saffron threw a giant fireball at them, and Ranma froze them both. They were coated in ice and flying threw the inferno. When things settled down for a second she felt Ranma gasp, and suddenly, she knew what he was thinking. He was going to try to throw his hiryu shoten ha right into Saffron's heart. Why was he hesitating? Akane struggled to open her eyes enough to see what was going on. Saffron was invisible, cloaked in a wall of fire.

She felt anger flaring to life inside her. They'd come so far. No way this bratty little jackass was going to defeat Ranma! She felt energy building inside her, feeding a burning battle aura, and suddenly, she realize how she could help. As the ice around her melted, she let the heat of her rage drive her forward towards Saffron's voice. She could give Ranma enough of an opening to aim!

Ha! It worked. Ranma won again, and she had helped. But she really couldn't keep her eyes open for one more moment "Akane!" Ranma was close to her now, "I won! Just hold on one minute. I'll get the cold cursed water for you right away. Then we can be together again!"

Her heart swelled a sounded so nice. 'I'm sorry, Ranma,' She thought, 'I'm so tired' She couldn't resist the urge to close her eyes and sleep.

"Akane!" She could hear him, but she couldn't open her eyes, she just didn't have the strength. "Akane, don't leave me now! Not like this!"

'I'm just resting' she thought 'I'd never leave you.'

Ranma was trying to get her to the cold water. Finally, he flung another punch that had the water spiraling up towards them. Akane felt delightfully quenched. Her body was back to normal, and Ranma was holding her. Comfortable, she sank further into her exhaustion.

Sometime later, she was drifting down into welcome darkness. Ranma was still talking to her. "All this 'cause you wanted to save me. It would have been better if it were me. You should have let me die. Why did you have to get involved? Damn, Akane. You fool, why didn't you let me go?"

Didn't he know that was impossible?

"I'm sorry, that's not what I meant. What I'm trying to say is thank you. I'm so sorry, Akane, I'm so awkward with words. There were so many things I always wanted to tell you, but I could never get the words out. Over and over again, I kept trying to tell you how I really felt, but it always came out wrong. I just ended up bothering you and making you angry, but that was never what I meant to do"

Akane drifted deeper into darkness. She had imagined falling asleep in Ranma's arms so many times. The reality felt so nice, and for once he was being sweet to her.

"Wake up, Akane. There's something I need to tell you. I've waited too long to say it, but it can't wait another moment." Ranma sounded like he was about to cry.

'Don't cry, Ranma' Akane thought 'You won. I'm so happy, I just need to rest.'

"Akane?" Ranma said, "Can't you hear me?" she could feel his tears on her face, "Please, Akane. I need you to hear me now. I wanted to tell you . . . "

Akane felt a warm, golden light surrounding her. 'I wanted to tell you that I love you!' "Akane!"

Ranma loved her! Somewhere in heart she had known that for a long time, but to hear him say it . . . She felt the same glowing energy lifting her gently, and joy swelled in her heart, breaking through her exhaustion.

Ranma was outright sobbing now, though, squeezing her against his chest. She didn't want him to be sad when she was so happy. With great effort, she reached up to brush his tears away.

"A . . . A . . .Akane?" He asked, very quietly.

"Ranma" She answered, weakly returning his embrace.

"Akane!"

"Hello, Ranma"

"Akane . . . " He said again, softly this time.

"I'm sorry." Akane said trying to set him at ease. "I could hear everything . . . I just couldn't move to respond."

"Eh?" Ranma looked panicked and a bright blush was creeping over his face. "Everything, did you say?"

"Yup! Every word" she could tell that she was beaming at him. Ranma was in love with her. She was so happy.

The whole way home from China, he hardly stopped touching her. He just about always had a hand resting on her arm or her shoulder, like he had to make sure she was real. Akane didn't think he even noticed he was doing it. Every once in a while, a dark look would cross his face and he would grasp her in a crushing hug.

It wasn't until much later that she realized that she never said she loved him back. That was what she meant to say when Ranma asked her why she'd agreed with to go along with the wedding. But somehow it didn't come out right and he freaked and made her mad and everything went crazy.

Since then, things had gone back to normal, at least on the surface. Ranma didn't say as many mean things to her as he once had, but then there were whole days that he hardly said anything at all. The tension of acting like nothing had changed when everything had changed seemed to thrum in the air between them.

Bringing her thoughts back to the present, Akane massaged her thighs in the water. When she figured she'd gotten as much relief as she was likely to get, she left the spring, jumping up and shaking to get some of the water off.

Ranma slipped through the forrest, listening closely for any sound that would give away where Akane had got off to. He hadn't heard any commotion, so it didn't seem likely anything had happened to her. Was she mad at him or something?

After walking for several minutes, he heard a splash from the spring where they'd gone yesterday. Ranma took off in that direction and stopped short. He had nearly run smack into Akane, who happened to be stripped down to her underwear, dripping wet, and jiggling.

"Ranma! Did you hear what I said?" Akane was yelling at him.

Ranma hadn't found the power of speech yet, so he shook his head. Wondering how hard Akane was about to hit him and whether he cared enough to look away from the rivulets of water dripping between her breasts.

"I said what the hell are you doing here?" She rested a hand on one cocked hip and "And as you've so often reminded me, you've seen girls far better looking than me less covered up than this tons of times. So just shut your mouth, pervert!"

Ranma, not without difficulty, peeled his eyes away and turned his back. "That's right I have!" He said, and seeing her clothes, picked them up and tossed them at her over his shoulder. "So I obviously shouldn't be interested in looking at you."

"You were staring pretty hard with that stupid expression on your face for someone not interested." Akane shot back, echoing his conscience almost word for word. There was a bitter edge to her voice that Ranma didn't like. He'd tried to get things back to normal between them since Jusendo and the failed wedding, but instead of her spirited, fiery rage, he got these weird, tense responses.

"You can turn around now." Akane looked at him, "What are you doing out here, anyway?"

"Looking for you, dummy!" He said, "Breakfast is almost ready. And I think since you wandered off before it was even light out, I'm the one who should be asking you why you're out here."

"Just trying to loosen up before we train today." Akane shrugged. "I can't remember the last time I felt so sore."

"Yeah, well, that's why you're not as good as you could be." Ranma said, smirking. Akane had kept up with him pretty well yesterday, but she'd been going all out. "That does decide what we're doing today, though."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Swimming" It would help her body recover from the first day's training without feeling like he was giving her a break.


End file.
